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LOOPHOLE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A small hole in a fortified wall; for observation or discharging weapons
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("loophole" is a kind of...):
hole (an opening deliberately made in or through something)
Sense 2
Meaning:
An ambiguity (especially one in the text of a law or contract) that makes it possible to evade a difficulty or obligation
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("loophole" is a kind of...):
ambiguity (an expression whose meaning cannot be determined from its context)
Domain category:
contract (a binding agreement between two or more persons that is enforceable by law)
Context examples:
Out of the eight men who had fallen in the action, only three still breathed—that one of the pirates who had been shot at the loophole, Hunter, and Captain Smollett; and of these, the first two were as good as dead; the mutineer indeed died under the doctor's knife, and Hunter, do what we could, never recovered consciousness in this world.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
At the same moment, another pirate grasped Hunter's musket by the muzzle, wrenched it from his hands, plucked it through the loophole, and with one stunning blow, laid the poor fellow senseless on the floor.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Hunter lay beside his loophole, stunned; Joyce by his, shot through the head, never to move again; while right in the centre, the squire was supporting the captain, one as pale as the other.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
I will confess that I was far too much taken up with what was going on to be of the slightest use as sentry; indeed, I had already deserted my eastern loophole and crept up behind the captain, who had now seated himself on the threshold, with his elbows on his knees, his head in his hands, and his eyes fixed on the water as it bubbled out of the old iron kettle in the sand.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
The doctor's watch were all back at their loopholes, the rest were busy loading the spare muskets, and everyone with a red face, you may be certain, and a flea in his ear, as the saying is.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
